Crocheter Sits Up in Bed After 20 Immobile Years!

Last week The Telegraph out of Calcutta, India ran an amazing story. It tells the tale of a woman who has spent the past two decades in bed, immobilized by symptoms of severe rheumatoid arthritis. Thanks to diligent effort on the part of both her and her doctors, she is now beginning to get mobile. And one of the things that she does is crochet.

53-year-old Pushpalata Sawant has suffered from numerous health problems throughout her life. She was born with only one lung. In her twenties, she began developing signs of serious arthritis that rapidly worsened. She became unable to turn her neck or bend her spine … eventually experiencing near-zero movement and being confined to bed.

The surgery that Sawant needed was difficult because of the fact that she has only one lung, which complicates anesthesia for surgery. However, she recently found surgeons that were willing to take a chance on her. She had a bilateral hip replacement that has allowed her some mobility and is hoping to receive a knee replacement in the near future.

In the meantime, she stays busy, using her hands the best she can. The article says that she makes crochet bags, “using sticks she can grasp with fingers to manipulate needles”. I’m not entirely sure what that means but it sounds like a good way to adapt arthritic hands to be able to crochet. Incidentally, there are crochet hooks and other aids for arthritic people who want to crochet.

Good luck to this woman with her future surgeries and her crochet work!